MBA Students Become Teachers with Junior Achievement

Published: May 3, 2010

A group of UT MBA students left their desks and took to the front of
the classroom, becoming teachers to students at nearby Stewart Middle
Magnet School.

The volunteers spent the morning teaching
budgeting, personal finance and insurance as a program of Junior
Achievement, the largest and oldest nonprofit organization that teaches
the principles of market based economics and entrepreneurship to
students in grades kindergarten to 12.

“It is important that our
community is involved in educating children,” said Carla Prescott,
senior education director for Junior Achievement. “Having the MBA
students involved shows that what you learn in school is relevant and
important in the real world.”

H.L. Prindle III, an MBA student
with a concentration in management, had volunteered with Junior
Achievement through his undergraduate alma mater’s alumni club. As the
vice president of business development for UT-GOLD,
the University’s Graduate Organization of Leadership and Development,
Prindle thought, “Who better to teach economics-related lessons than MBA
students?”

“It doesn’t take a lot to make an impact,” said Prindle ’10.

Not
only does it give the middle schoolers an interaction they might not
otherwise have, Prindle said, it gives the graduate students an
opportunity to develop their leadership skills.

“It feels good
to be able to teach kids new lessons and life skills,” said Felicity
Carey ’11, a Marketing of Science in Accounting student who previously
volunteered with Junior Achievement with UT’s Beta Alpha Psi, an honorary organization for financial information students and professionals. “The students have a good time too.”

The
goal of UT-GOLD is to further enrich and develop the lives of all
graduate students, and this is just one opportunity, said Prindle.
Another is a recent leadership forum where several high-powered
businesspeople, including Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio, interacted with about
90 attendees on what it means to be a leader. UT-GOLD members have also
volunteered at the Ronald McDonald House and participated in an ALS
walk.

“Part of UT-GOLD’s mission is to be out in the community,”
said Emily Ghosh ’10, an MBA student and president of UT-GOLD, who was
excited to be volunteering with Junior Achievement. “We’ve been blessed
to go to school and to graduate school. To show these students who may
not be as fortunate that it’s possible is really rewarding.”

Prescott
said the UT students are role models who show that college is
attainable and worth striving toward. While the school is less than 2
miles away, the distance in opportunity between UT and the middle school
is much greater.

Stewart is a Title I school, which means the
majority of the students qualify for free or reduced lunch. The number
of economically disadvantaged students account for 73 percent of
Stewart’s population.